New statewide initiative introduced to raise minimum wage

Ariana Davis, right, a grocery worker from Auburn, Wash., talks to reporters, Monday, Jan. 11, 2016, after she filed a ballot measure with the Secretary of State at the Capitol in Olympia, Wash.

OLYMPIA, Wash. (AP) - Supporters of raising Washington state's minimum wage filed a ballot measure Monday that seeks to incrementally raise Washington's minimum wage to $13.50 an hour over four years starting in 2017, as well as provide paid sick leave to employees without it.

The initiative was announced at a news conference by a coalition of workers and union members. Washington's current minimum wage is $9.47 an hour, but the rate is adjusted each year for inflation as measured by the Consumer Price Index for the past 12 months. The yearly recalculation is required by Initiative 688, which was approved by Washington voters in 1998.

For several years, Washington state had the highest statewide minimum wage in the nation, but five states had higher rates starting this year: Alaska, California, Connecticut, Massachusetts, and Rhode Island. Some cities in Washington state already exceed the statewide minimum wage. A draft of the ballot measure said the minimum wage would resume being adjusted for inflation beginning in 2020.

Lori Pfingst, the research and policy director for the Washington State Budget and Policy Center, a Seattle-based organization that supports the ballot measure, estimated it would take until 2031 for the rate to rise to $13.50 an hour adjusting for inflation without the ballot measure filed Monday.

Seattle's minimum wage is set to incrementally rise to $15 an hour and Tacoma voters recently voted to raise the city's minimum wage to $12 an hour over two years starting this year. The minimum wage for transportation and hospitality industry workers in SeaTac is currently $15.24 an hour.

Teresa Mosqueda, the campaign director for the Washington State Labor Council, said at the conference that the coalition filed a ballot measure because past efforts in the Legislature to raise the state's minimum wage and provide paid sick leave failed in recent years. Lawmakers debated a bill to raise the state's minimum wage to $12 an hour over four years last year but it died in the Senate.

"We haven't seen real efforts to move these bills out of the Senate," Mosqueda said.

The measure filed Monday would allow employees that don't currently have sick-leave benefits to earn up to seven days of paid sick leave each year. Mosqueda added she believes the measure would not violate a Washington rule that says bills can only address one subject because minimum wage and paid sick leave are "directly connected" to labor standards.